Along the northern coast of God's own country..!!!!

It was a sunny morning but somehow the last night’s rain and the room ambience put a lot of stress on this lazy lad before getting up at 04.30 in the morning. I and my two friends were ready by 05.30 for the journey that is going to consume the first half of the day. We reached Mahe R.S by 06.00 and late running 16629 MAQ bound Malabar was the first visitor of the day followed by an idle BCNA rake waiting to depart towards CLT. Shortly after Malabar cleared the 1st platform, MAQ bound vivek express from SRC blasted past the station and the loco was WDM2 17867. The next 30 minutes went in a jiffy as we started to chit-chat about some useless things, as usual..!!!!

Just 5 minutes past 06.30, our train 56650 CAN-CBE fast passenger sneaked into PF2 with 16877 WDM2 from GOC at the helm. The occupancy was pretty decent and we comfortably managed to find a seat with ease and it was the rail fan’s paradise for me – window seat facing the track-side. The signal turned amber at 6.37 and we bid adieu to our friend who took care of us for the last two days. It was my first journey through the northern coast of kerala under daylight and was delighted to explore God’s own country in my ‘own’ way. The Mangalore bound 16347 express crossed us before Irinal at 07.00 and 16527 YPR-CAN exp met us at vellarkaad when the clock was ticking 07.25. By this time, I’d almost fallen into the words of our Dr. APJ and was in my own world. Even then I could sense the space within the compartments getting shrunk as the crowd grew bigger.

But the transition didn’t really last long and I woke up at 08.00 just as we were entering Calicut and in the distant, I could see MAQ bound 12601 mail waiting to depart, powered by 11104 WDM3D from Erode. Oh wait, we were now feeling hungry but disappointed to see my friend who went out to fetch something for breakfast, returned empty-handed. So what, we have the cousin sister of India’s national drink @ 24*7 and sipped a cup of ‘not-so-tasty-coffee’ with due courtesy to IRCTC. The starter to leave CLT was given at 08.10 and needless to say, most people alighted here.

At Kallayi, we saw an empty BCNA rake hauled by twin WDG3A from Golden Rock. The Alco had a good time in hauling the 13-coach affair with ease aided by the presence of double line. ED WDM3D 11200 powered TCR CAN passenger crossed us right at kadalundi bridge. Shortly after tanur, we met the 22610 PGT – MAQ intercity. Our next long halt was tirur at 09.15 and after 5 minutes, we proceeded on our way towards CBE. 16305 ERS – CAN intercity raced past us just before pallipuram which was being pulled by an ERS deemer (guessed by the orange color of the loco). It was quite visible that freight traffic is comparatively high in this region substantiated by a slew of BCNA rakes being put aside in the loop lines.

The ravishing and exquisite beauty of rural kerala coupled with the chugging sound of Alco made it even more beautiful to travel. Finally we ended up in shoranur right at 10.35 just to find that 16606 Ernad was making a short pause in the next platform and 16880 WDM2 from GOC was in-charge of it. Something was pestering us in our deep conscious and we later figured that it was nothing but the hungriness . There was an IRCTC stall right opposite to our coach and I bought some dal vada which was simply superb followed by a round of pazhamporis and samosas. With my food appetite going down, it was time for some action from the P-way. ERS WDM2 16857, 22223 WAP4 from ED and another wappie 2223X were seen in the siding. A while later, 22249 WAP4 from ED brought the TVC-bound 17230 sabari into SRR.

We left SRR by 10.50 and started to proceed towards Palakkad. Minutes later, we met the CBE – TCR MEMU at Mankara. With just one halt between SRR and PGT, it was really a cakewalk for the Alco to maintain the punctuality till Palakkad which was reached at 11.40. There also we witnessed quite a lot of freight action – LGD WAG9 31238 with a BCNA rake; another WAG9 31149 from the same shed attached to a blue BCNHL rake; 23288 WAG5HA from AJJ hauling a BTPN rake (for a change..!!!!). Then SBC bound 12678 intercity arrived at 11.45 with a dirty wappie 22218 from Erode. For a journey that involves one full day, I was quite surprised to see the Intercity with just one AC coach and that too in summer. As usual, U/R compartments were brimming with passengers. 12678 was allowed to proceed ahead of us and this was the first overtake in our voyage. The sun was right at its peak and the scorching heat made it a difficult task to sit in a Non-ac coach.

Now its time for the final leg of the journey. We left PGT sharply at 11.50 with the intention of making it on time at CBE. At Kanjikode, we crossed the 16107 MS-MAQ express under the charge of 11103 ACD fitted WDM3D of Erode and started to climb the walayar ghat section. The PSR in this section denied us the possibility of reaching CBE before time leave alone the probability of being right on time. We were able to enter walayar at 12.45 only, late by 30 minutes. At madukarai, we encountered the WAP4 powered evergreen super crawler 13351 DHN-ALLP express. We cruised through the outskirts of Kovai and made one ‘last-but-one’ halt at 13.15 and finally landed up in the PF5 of CBE station at 13.40 with an eventual delay of just 15 minutes. The Manchester of South India was taking some rest after a tiresome week.!!!!!